Grooves & Grapes Music, Food & Wine Festival @ Balic Winery

Grooves & Grapes Music, Food & Wine Festival @ Balic Winery is an annual food, wine, and music festival held each year on the second Sunday in September at Balić Winery & Vineyards in Mays Landing, New Jersey — a 57-acre working vineyard with more than 27 award-winning wines produced on site. Ticket pricing and 2026 dates had not been announced at the time of publication; check the Balić Winery events page or call 609-625-2166 for updates.

Grooves & Grapes Music, Food & Wine Festival @ Balic Winery takes place on the grounds of a winery with roots going back to the early 1900s, when descendants of Mays Landing's early settlers first planted the vineyard. Founder Savo Balić acquired the property in 1966 with the goal of bringing a European winemaking tradition to South Jersey, and his nephew Bojan Boskovic has worked alongside him since 1993, continuing that approach. The festival format pairs live music — past performances have included acts like The Long Tall Sally Band — with wine sampling from Balić's portfolio, which spans dry reds, dry whites, semi-sweet, Vin Rosé, sparkling wines, and a range of fruit wines including pomegranate, huckleberry, mango, and pumpkin. Mobile food vendors round out the afternoon.

The event runs from 1 to 5 p.m. on the winery's outdoor grounds, which include a Mediterranean-style terrace the winery calls the Adriatic Riviera at their Mays Landing chateau. The venue is a bring-your-own-food (BYOF) property, and the winery is dog-friendly, making it accessible for a range of visitors. Balić Winery is located at 6623 Harding Highway (Route 40) in Mays Landing, NJ 08330, roughly midway between Philadelphia and the Jersey Shore.

Balić Winery sits within New Jersey's Outer Coastal Plain AVA, a wine region recognized for its sandy, well-drained soils and a climate moderated by proximity to the Atlantic. The winery's broad wine range — from traditional dry varietals to specialty fruit wines — reflects both its European heritage and the region's agricultural diversity. Now in its 60th year of operation, Balić Winery is one of the longer-running estate wineries in southern New Jersey.